renatanada

Some of us want the responsibility. And there's not enough money in the world to go back to the thankless, back-breaking world of bedside nursing. Let me repeat for you: Sounds like you need a new job. Go be a CRNA.

I'm shocked how unsupportive people are here. "Go back to being an RN the pay is really good nowadays." GET. A. CLUE. Not all of us are in it for the money. A lot of us wanted to get away from nurses like you... NPs can learn, just like RNs. The post is obviously addressing a system problem--this NP needs to find a way to fit into a system or find a position in a system that works. Geez, whatever happened to encouragement?

Diabetics, obese, drug addicts, etc. aren't HURTING OTHERS with their poor decisions. There's a big difference. Nurses are allowed to not agree with or even like their patients. But nobody here is saying they aren't providing fair and "just" care to anyone. If any patient moans about bad hospital food or their treatment... we try to make them comfortable. We're all doing our best. Unfortunately hospitals are not the Four Seasons. And nurses should not be patient servants OR PATIENT MOMMIES. Personally, I think people who refuse the vaccine don't have any business working in healthcare. We practice evidence-based medicine. Not facebook-based medicine. This is your chosen profession. Don't believe in it? Leave the profession. Gotta wonder how these people even passed the NCLEX...

Put the sandwich/meth pipe/bottle down and get a job.

Red flag(s). Dump him.

Is this a NCLEX prioritization question? Good grief. Patient comfort (especially in a hospice patient!) should be the No. 1 priority. Weight? Who cares. Guess--and do not say that we haven't all done this. (It's not a pediatric patient who will have weight-based dosing of medications.) The problem with these admissions is short staffing. A good manager addresses short staffing instead of burning out herself and her colleagues. There's no nursing shortage, just a shortage of people who are willing to put up with a profession that rewards myopic management.

My advice to you is to find a different career path in nursing. Public health? Research? Occupational health? Insurance? I hear you that you are at your wit's end right now, but please understand that your nursing education and professional licensure are actually quite valuable assets. Even though hospital nursing is often presented to new grads as the royalty of the profession, I also found bedside nursing to be exactly how you described it--back-breaking, abusive, and under appreciated. (The national corporate behemoth hospital where I worked actually gave the nurses a fake gold doubloon for working during the first round of COVID. ) Basically if you are working the floor right now, unless you are a traveller, you are underpaid, risking your life, and being taken advantage of. Period. That said, the absolute worst part of nursing is the nurses who feel like you (and I) do, stick it out on the floors, and torture everyone around them because they are either too scared or too dumb to move on. But you know this. See you on the (happy) trails!

I started out as a new grad NICU nurse. I had a great preceptor. But quickly discovered that this is not the place for me. I found that, on the whole, NICU nurses don't really want to be nurses. They will freely admit that they cringe at the thought of "big people" blood or (God forbid) POOP. But they do loooooove reigning over their little helpless patients (and preceptees) and the almost invariably clueless and terrified parents. Sure, there are a few good eggs (mostly from older generations), but the majority are cliquey and in it for the money. Next shift look around, how many are preening their hair extensions and making appointments to get their tarantula eyelashes stuck on? Just saying.

I don't get it... this is what nurses do. Call and ask the provider for a pain med order. Day or night. No, it's not the last shift's responsibility. No, you can't control if the provider answers your call. Your job is to evaluate the patient, ask for the pain med, and document the response (or the provider's lack of response). If the patient complains about "customer service," so what--you've done your job and you have the documentation to prove it. And of course, if the patient decompensates, follow your facility protocol. Patients have pain. Nurses can't control everything--certainly not responsiveness of providers or appropriateness of orders. You want that kind of control and responsibility, go back to school and be a provider.

It is a sad situation. But hospitals are for acutely ill patients, not people whose families are at their wits end... Too many times hospitals are dumping grounds when families would rather spend their time and money on things (cigarettes, tattoos, pizzas, etc.) other than taking care of their loved one.

Nobody is forcing fast food on any group of people. Advertisers target the people who purchase the product. That is their job. Nurses tend to forget that there is such a thing as personal responsibility.

To nursing managers, no it's not the responsibility of bedside nurses to recruit staff, ever. And please expect everyone's fake smiles to wither when short staffing continues ad infinitum. If you want to reward nurses, give out gift cards that can be used outside of work hours, not fattening food and balloons! To nurses, you are not alone in feeling belittled by these "parties." Understand, these parties are for annual action plan spreadsheets, not for you. That's why they're scheduled during business hours with little to no regard for your time. But I agree, you have to be careful about to whom and how dissatisfaction is expressed in any workplace. Managers tend to be overworked and many are in over their heads (Google: The Peter Principle), which leads to fragile egos. If your manager doesn't understand the optics of helping with patient care when you are short-staffed (managers are still nurses!)--then, it's time to jump ship.

I felt obligated to help by going back to hospital bedside nursing during the pandemic. I lasted exactly one year, to the day. I was rewarded by a hospital system that did not protect me=one (1) N95... for my entire year there. So of course I got COVID. My soul was completely crushed by the insane staff:patient workload and patients who threw things at me, cursed at, and berated me personally for the ills of the American healthcare system. "Heroes," whatever. More like servants. Why nurses put up with this treatment is beyond me, but the amount of ridiculous backbiting and throwing each other under the bus is amazing. I'm in clinicals for NP school now. And I am: Never. Looking. Back.

Sounds exactly like the progressive care unit I work on. My last shift is coming up. It's unsafe. Hate it. There are so many better nursing jobs out there. Don't believe the "hero" rhetoric. Get out! And become an NP as soon as you can.

Um, that’s quite a leap. I only said I’d take whatever job I can get assuming there won’t be much demand for an inexperienced NP. That doesn’t mean I’ll work for nothing—but I’m not going to demand six figures with zero experience.